Delay for new charter school construction

Even while grading work continues on the new elementary charter school at the corner of East Commercial Street and South Lenore Avenue, issues have cropped up about whether proper approvals for the construction have been obtained.

The Willits Unified School District Board of Trustees is expected to meet June 19 to consider an emergency request to sanction current construction plans.

"We are working with the district to take care of the zoning issue," says President Eric Glassey of the Charter School Association of Willits. "The district has been cooperative. We believe this is a great site for a small charter school. We are working very hard to open a school in only two and a half months."

At issue is whether the charter school association has the legal right to waive certain aspects of school construction. Lawyers from the charter school and the school district seem to have a difference of opinion on who needs to approve a zoning waiver.

The planned charter school location is currently zoned residential R-3, according to Willits Community Development Director Alan Falleri. The zoning does not allow public schools, but does allow private schools with a conditional use permit. Public schools have the authority to exempt themselves from city zoning requirements by a two-thirds vote of the governing school board. The recent siting of the new Willits campus for Mendocino College on a heavy industrial parcel is an example of such a zoning exemption.

The current and prior location of the original Willits Charter School used this exemption process without requiring input from the Willits Unified School District board.

The charter school then determined it did not have to comply with the requirements of the Division of State Architect review for campus construction. Glassey told TWN the charter school project only needed to comply with City of Willits building standards.

Members of the charter school met with city planning officials and worked through most of the building issues, and the city was ready to issue a building permit when it received an alert from the Willits Unified School District, according to Falleri. The city is now awaiting word from WUSD about whether to issue the permit or not.

When the school exempts itself from the city planning process, it becomes the lead agency for conducting a California Environmental Quality Assessment for the project. The Charter School Association of Willits considers this project to be an "In Fill Development Project." The site was approved for 20 townhouses, and according to Glassey the new 100-person school is a similar use. This type of exemption is allowed if "the project is consistent with the applicable general plan designation?including applicable zoning designation."

Since public schools are not allowed in this zoning and a private school would have required a conditional use permit and hearing before the city council, it seems unclear how the exemption applies.

The exemption also requires the project will "not result in any significant effects relating to traffic, noise?" Dropping off and picking up 100 children a day might have a traffic consequence at the location, so the application of this exemption also seems inconsistent.

"We are trying to start a school for this fall," says charter school spokesman Jason Erlick. "Hopefully it will be at the location we have chosen."